US8201695B2 - Lift type pore-controllable fiber filter - Google Patents

Abstract

A lift type pore-controllable fiber filter includes a filter tank, a strainer coaxially formed as a porous tub in the filter tank, extending to an outside of the filter tank at a bottom thereof to communicate with a treated water drain pipe, and having a piston guide recessed in an axial direction at an upper portion thereof, a lifting driver including a cylinder and a piston, an upper filter material fixing plate having fixing means, fixed to the piston above the strainer, and working in collaboration with reciprocation of the piston, a lower filter material fixing plate having fixing means and fixed below the strainer, and at least one fiber filter material fixed to the fixing means of the upper and lower filter material fixing plates at upper and lower ends thereof respectively, and forming filtering pore layers on an outer circumference of the strainer.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates, in general, to a lift type pore-controllable fiber filter, in which a force is uniformly distributed throughout a fiber filter material, thereby improving filtration performance.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, filters are devices that filter contaminated raw water to generate drained clean water, and are gradually being made large in order to filter the waters of a wide river, industrial wastewater effluent, and so on.

Among these filters, the representative filter is a pore controllable fiber (PCF) filter. The PCF filter employs fiber yarns such as filament yarns that are bundled up and disposed on a path of flowing water, as a filter material. This filter material is called a fiber filter material. When the fiber filter material is used, pores formed by filament yarns can be easily adjusted under physical control, so that the PCF filter has good filtration performance, and is easily cleaned to guarantee a long effective lifetime.

In particular, the PCF filter has turned out to have an excellent effect on removal efficiency depending on particulate size, removal efficiency of suspended solids, and so on, as compared to other filters.

The PCF filter has the fiber filter material twisted around a porous tube, thereby forming fine pores.

Here, in the case in which the fiber filter material is short, twist tension is uniformly transmitted to the fiber, so that filtration layers of all the upper, middle and lower parts of the fiber are densely formed to make the quality of filtered water good. In contrast, in the case in which the fiber filter material is long, twist tension is not uniformly transmitted to all of the upper, middle and lower parts of the fiber, so that the tension of the middle part becomes weak, and thus the filtration layers are loosely formed causing the filtration performance to deteriorate.

DISCLOSURETechnical Problem

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and an embodiment of the present invention provides a lift type pore-controllable fiber filter, in which a force is uniformly distributed to respective parts of a fiber filter material.

Technical Solution

In order to achieve the above object, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lift type pore-controllable fiber filter, which comprises: a filter tank communicating with a raw water inflow pipe and a back-washing water drain pipe on an upper side thereof and an air inflow pipe on a lower side thereof; a strainer coaxially formed as a porous tub in the filter tank, extending to an outside of the filter tank at a bottom thereof to communicate with a treated water drain pipe, and having a piston guide recessed in an axial direction at an upper portion thereof; a lifting driver including a cylinder above the filter tank, and a piston driven by the cylinder and extending from the cylinder to the piston guide in the filter tank so as to reciprocate; an upper filter material fixing plate having fixing means disposed within a radius smaller than that of the strainer, fixed to the piston above the strainer, and working in collaboration with reciprocation of the piston; a lower filter material fixing plate having fixing means disposed within a radius smaller than that of the strainer, and fixed below the strainer; and a fiber filter material fixed to the fixing means of the upper and lower filter material fixing plates at upper and lower ends thereof respectively, and forming filtering pore layers on an outer circumference of the strainer.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the upper and lower filter material fixing plates may be spiral branches extending radially, on which the fixing means capable of fixing the upper or lower end of the fiber filter material are formed.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the upper and lower filter material fixing plates may be a circular plate on which the fixing means capable of fixing the upper or lower end of the fiber filter material are formed, wherein the fixing means are through-holes arranged spirally and radially.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the filter tank may include an air distribution plate below the lower filter material fixing plate so as to distribute air, which flows through the air inflow pipe, to the fiber filter material.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the cylinder may be a rotary cylinder endowing the piston with reciprocating and twisting motions.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the piston may include a length adjusting means.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the length adjusting means may divide the piston into two rods in series, form threads having different directions on respective ends of the two rods, connect a nut with the ends of the two rods, and adjusts a length of the piston by rotating the nut.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the length adjusting means may divide the piston into two rods in series, form male and female threads on respective ends of the two rods, connect the ends of the two rods, and adjust a length of the piston.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the filter tank may further include supports fixing the cylinder. Each support may have threads at one or both ends thereof to adjust a height thereof by adjusting a height at which a nut is fastened.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS

According to embodiments of the present invention, the lift type PCF filter pulls up the fiber filter material, and presses fiber filter material toward the strainer. As a result, although the fiber filter material is long, force is uniformly distributed throughout the fiber filter material, thereby improving filtration performance.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a lift type pore-controllable fiber (PCF) filter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating a lifting driver in a lift type PCF filter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view illustrating a lower filter material fixing plate in a lift type PCF filter according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is an assembled sectional view illustrating a lower filter material fixing plate in a lift type PCF filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS OF THE MAIN PARTS IN THE DRAWINGS

	10:	filter tank
	20:	fiber filter material
	30:	strainer
	40:	lower filter material fixing plate
	50:	lifting driver
	51:	cylinder
	52:	piston
	53:	support
	54:	length adjusting means
	60:	upper filter material fixing plate
	100:	back-washing water main drain pipe
	110:	back-washing water drain pipe
	120:	back-washing water drain valve
	200:	raw water main pipe
	210:	raw water inflow pipe
	220:	raw water valve
	300:	treated water main drain pipe
	310:	drain pipe
	400:	back-washing air main pipe
	410:	air inflow pipe
	420:	air supply valve

BEST MODE

Now, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

Further, technical terms, as will be mentioned hereinafter, are terms defined in consideration of their function in the present invention, which may vary according to the intentions of user, so that the technical terms should be defined as based on the contents of this specification.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a lift type pore-controllable fiber (PCF) filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating a lifting driver in a lift type PCF filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 3 is a top plan view illustrating a lower filter material fixing plate in a lift type PCF filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 4 is an assembled sectional view illustrating a lower filter material fixing plate in a lift type PCF filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As illustrated inFIG. 1, the lift type PCF filter according to present invention includes afilter tank10, astrainer30, alifting driver50 having acylinder51 and apiston52, an upper filtermaterial fixing plate60, a lower filtermaterial fixing plate40, and afiber filter material20.

As illustrated inFIG. 1, thefilter tank10 is connected with a rawwater inflow pipe210 and a back-washingwater drain pipe110 on an upper side thereof, wherein the rawwater inflow pipe210 is equipped with araw water valve220 controlling inflow of raw water, and the back-washingwater drain pipe110 is equipped with a back-washingwater drain valve120 controlling a discharge of back-washing water. The filter tank can have various shapes, and most preferably a cylindrical shape.

It does not matter if the rawwater inflow pipe210 and the back-washingwater drain pipe110 are independently connected in parallel to the upper side of thefilter tank10, or are connected so as to have one path using a T-shaped pipe fitting joint as illustrated inFIG. 1. However, in the latter case, the rawwater inflow pipe210 and the back-washingwater drain pipe110 must have respective external paths that are independently controlled by theraw water valve220 and the back-washingwater drain valve120.

In detail, the rawwater inflow pipe210 and the back-washingwater drain pipe110 are disposed together on the upper side of thefilter tank10, but their paths are selected by actuation of theraw water valve220 and the back-washingwater drain valve120, respectively.

Thefilter tank10 is connected with anair inflow pipe410 on a lower side thereof. Theair inflow pipe410 is also controlled by actuation of anair supply valve420.

Thefilter tank10 and thestrainer30 define a dual space of a coaxial cylinder. Thestrainer30 is a cylinder, in an outer wall of which many holes are densely formed.

That is, thestrainer30 is a porous cylinder disposed in the filter tank on the same axis as the filter tank. Thestrainer30 is connected with a treatedwater drain pipe310 extending outwards from the filter tank at the bottom thereof, and has apiston guide31 recessed in an axial direction at an upper portion thereof.

After flowing into thecylindrical filter tank10, the raw water to be filtered enters thestrainer30 through the holes formed in the cylindrical outer circumference of thestrainer30, and is drained through the treatedwater drain pipe310 connected to the bottom of thestrainer30.

As illustrated inFIG. 1, thepiston guide31 functions as a guide path of apiston52, which will be described below, and serves as means for supporting the top of thestrainer30 by means of thepiston52.

Thus, thepiston guide31 is preferably formed at such a depth that thepiston52 is guided with a relative long stroke.

Thelifting driver50 is a machine that drives thepiston52 reciprocating along thepiston guide31.

As illustrated inFIG. 2, thelifting driver50 is composed of thecylinder51 and thepiston52. Thecylinder51 is fixed to the upper side of thefilter tank10 bysupports53.

Thecylinder51 can be selected between a cylinder for simple linear reciprocation and a rotary cylinder for combination of linear reciprocation and rotation of thepiston52.

Meanwhile, thepiston52 is equipped with a length adjusting means54. As illustrated inFIG. 2, the length adjusting means54 can be variously implemented, for instance, by dividing thepiston52 into two rods in series, forming male and female threads on respective ends of the two rods, connecting the ends of the two rods, and adjusting a length of the piston, or by dividing thepiston52 into two rods in series, forming threads having different directions (e.g. left-hand threads for the upper rod, and right-hand threads for the lower rod) on respective ends of the two rods, connecting anut54 with the ends of the two rods, and adjusting a length of the piston by rotating thenut54.

Another example of the length adjusting means may be configured so that thesupports53 are threaded to adjust their heights.

In this manner, in the case in which the length adjusting means54 is disposed outside thefilter tank10, the length of the piston can be easily adjusted without disassembling thefilter tank10 when it is necessary to adjust the length of the piston.

The upper filtermaterial fixing plate60 is installed in thefilter tank10, is fixed to thepiston52 on the upper side of thestrainer30, and works in collaboration with the reciprocation of thepiston52. The lowerfilter fixing plate40 is fixed to the lower side of thestrainer30 in thefilter tank10.

As illustrated inFIG. 4, the upper and lower filtermaterial fixing plates60 and40 are fixedly connected with respective upper and lower ends of thefiber filter material20. Thus, when the lifting driver is actuated to pull the upper filtermaterial fixing plate60, the fiber filter material forms filtration pores around the outer circumference of thestrainer30.

Meanwhile, in order to fix thefiber filter material20, the lower and upper filtermaterial fixing plates40 and60 are provided with spiral radial fixing means41 and61 respectively, as illustrated inFIG. 1. In this embodiment, positions of the fixing means41 and61 have important technical meanings.

As illustrated inFIG. 3 (which illustrates the lower filtermaterial fixing plate40; however, the identical principle is applied to the upper filter material fixing plate, and thus the following description will be made with reference toFIG. 3), the fixing means41 and61 are formed around the centers of the upper and lower filter material fixing plates within a radius smaller than that of thestrainer30. This is for fixing thefiber filter material20 pressed toward the central axis of thestrainer30.

In detail, the fixing means41 and61 are formed within a diameter smaller than that of thestrainer30, so that the fixed fiber filter material has an orientation in which it is pressed toward thestrainer30. When thepiston52 is actuated to pull thefiber filter material20, the fixing means41 and61 cause the entirefiber filter material20 to be pressed toward the strainer to thereby form the filtration layers.

As illustrated inFIG. 4, thefiber filter material20 is preferably fixed in such a manner that it overlaps to form multiple layers.

Thus, the upper filtermaterial fixing plate60 or the lower filtermaterial fixing plate40 requires means for fixing the upper or lower end of thefiber filter material20 such that thefiber filter material20 can uniformly cover the outer circumference of thestrainer30. To this end, the upper filtermaterial fixing plate60 or the lower filtermaterial fixing plate40 can be formed of spiral radial branches on which the fixing means capable of fixing the upper or lower end of eachfiber filter material20 are formed, or can be a circular plate on which through-holes arranged around the center thereof are formed as the fixing means capable of fixing the upper or lower end of eachfiber filter material20, as illustrated inFIG. 3.

InFIG. 3, the lower filter material fixing plate employs a wide circular plate in which air vent holes42, through which air and water pass, are formed around the fixing means41. This configuration is merely one of the embodiments of the present invention. For example, the lower filter material fixing plate may employ a circular plate, which has a diameter smaller than that of the strainer and is formed with the fixing means41 alone.

Meanwhile, as illustrated inFIG. 1, anair distributing plate12 is disposed below the lower filtermaterial fixing plate40. Theair distributing plate12 distributes air introduced through theair inflow pipe410 to thefiber filter material20.

Theair distributing plate12 serves to uniformly distribute the ejected air to thefiber filter material20. To this end, theair distributing plate12 can be formed in various shapes, for instance, of a circular plate having a plurality of through-holes or of a plurality of plates.

Now, the operation of the lift type PCF filter will be described below.

First, a filtering process is as follows.

Theraw water valve220 is opened, while the back-washingwater drain valve120 and theair supply valve420 are closed. Thereby, a filtering path running from the raw watermain pipe200 to the treated watermain drain pipe300 via the rawwater inflow pipe210,raw water valve220, lift type PCF filter, and treatedwater drain pipe310 is formed.

When theraw water valve220 is opened, raw water flows into thefilter tank10 of the lift type PCF filter. The raw water flowing into thefilter tank10 flows through thefiber filter material20, and then flows into thestrainer30 past the holes of thestrainer30. At this time, the raw water is filtered to become treated water. The treated water drains to the treated watermain drain pipe300 through the treatedwater drain pipe310 on the bottom of thestrainer30.

At this time, the filtration efficiency of thefiber filter material20 is dependent on sizes of the pores formed by thefiber filter material20, and the sizes of the pores are determined by tension of thefiber filter material20.

In this embodiment, the tension of thefiber filter material20 is generated by motion of thepiston52 of the liftingdriver50.

In detail, when thepiston52 moves upwards, the upper filtermaterial fixing plate60 fixed to thepiston52 pulls thefiber filter material20 to apply tension to thefiber filter material20. The internal pores of thefiber filter material20 are contracted by the tension of thefiber filter material20, thereby forming the filtration pores.

At this time, in the case in which thecylinder51 of the liftingdriver50 is implemented as a rotary cylinder that causes thepiston52 to simultaneously carry out linear reciprocation and rotation, when thepiston52 is raised, thefiber filter material20 is pulled while winding the outer circumference of the strainer, thereby forming uniform pores more effectively.

Next, a back-washing process of the lift type PCF filter will be described below.

Theraw water valve220 is closed, while the back-washingwater drain valve120 is opened. Thereby, a back-washing path running from the treatedwater drain pipe310 to the back-washing watermain drain pipe100 via the lift type PCF filter and the back-washingwater drain pipe110 is formed.

In the interior of the lift type PCF filter, the water introduced into thestrainer30 through the treatedwater drain pipe310 is ejected to thefiber filter material20 through the holes of thestrainer30, thereby washing thefiber filter material20. The water washing thefiber filter material20 is discharged to the outside through the back-washingwater drain pipe110.

When the back washing is performed, thepiston52 of the liftingdriver50 is lowered to remove the tension from thefiber filter material20. Thereby, thefiber filter material20 is easily shaken or vibrated, rubbed, and washed by the flowing water ejected from thestrainer30.

In order to greatly improve back-washing efficiency, the air is ejected upwards below thefiber filter material20 through theair inflow pipe410 when the back washing is performed. At this time, in order to uniformly distribute the air to thefiber filter material20, theair distribution plate12 is installed on the lower part of thefilter tank10.

Meanwhile, the tensile strength of thefiber filter material20 deteriorates as a result of its being used, and thus the filament yarns of the fiber filter material become loosened. Thus, although thefiber filter material20 is pulled by the piston, it does not obtain the desired pore size.

In this case, in this embodiment, the length of the piston is minutely adjusted by the length adjusting means54. Thereby, the fiber filter material can always form the pores with optimal tension.

Thus, according to the embodiment, the fiber filter material receives uniform tension and is pressed toward the strainer by the linear pulling motion and/or rotational motion of the cylinder. When the fiber filter material loosens and loses tensile strength due to long-term use and the resulting accumulation of fatigue, the length of the fiber filter material is adjusted again by the length adjusting means, so that the lifetime of the lift type PCF filter is prolonged.

Of course, each valve, the stroke of the piston, etc. can be controlled by electrical control signals of automatic control equipment.

As described above, the fixing means of the upper and lower filter material fixing plates are disposed inside an area defined by the outer circumference of the strainer, so that, when the fiber filter material is pulled above, the fiber filter material is tensioned toward a centripetal axis of the strainer and thus forms a strong compressive force. Unlike when the fiber filter material is twisted in a conventional twist type PCF filter, the loss of force due to friction does not occur. Thus, the same force is applied to generate greater compressive force, so that the pores of the filtering layers are uniformly formed to improve the filtration performance.

Further, when it is necessary to further increase the compressive force, it can be accomplished by pulling and twisting the fiber filter material in turns or at the same time.

In the drawings and specification, typical exemplary embodiments of the invention have been disclosed, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and are not intended to have been used for the purposes of imposing limitations, so that the scope of the invention is set forth in the following claims.

Claims (8)

1. A lift type pore-controllable fiber filter, comprising:

a cylinder type filter tank communicating with a raw water inflow pipe and a back-washing water drain pipe on an upper side thereof and an air inflow pipe on a lower side thereof;

a strainer coaxially formed as a porous tub in the filter tank, extending to an outside of the filter tank at a bottom thereof to communicate with a treated water drain pipe, and having a piston guide recessed in an axial direction at an upper portion thereof;

a lifting driver including a cylinder fixed above the filter tank by supports, and a piston driven by the cylinder and extending from the cylinder to the piston guide in the filter tank so as to reciprocate;

an upper filter material fixing plate having spiral fixing means disposed within a radius smaller than that of the strainer in a central direction, fixed to the piston within the filter tank, and working in collaboration with reciprocation of the piston above the strainer;

a lower filter material fixing plate having spiral fixing means disposed within a radius smaller than that of the strainer in a central direction, and fixed below the strainer within the filter tank; and

a fiber filter material fixed to the fixing means of the upper and lower filter material fixing plates at upper and lower ends thereof respectively, and forming filtering pore layers on an outer circumference of the strainer.

2. The lift type pore-controllable fiber filter as set forth inclaim 1, wherein at least one of the upper and lower filter material fixing plates is spiral branches extending radially, on which the fixing means capable of fixing the upper or lower end of the fiber filter material are formed.

3. The lift type pore-controllable fiber filter as set forth inclaim 1, wherein at least one of the upper and lower filter material fixing plates is a circular plate, wherein the fixing means are through-holes arranged spirally and radially.

4. The lift type pore-controllable fiber filter as set forth inclaim 1, wherein an air distribution plate is formed below the lower filter material fixing plate so as to distribute air, which flows through the air inflow pipe, to the fiber filter material.

5. The lift type pore-controllable fiber filter as set forth inclaim 1, wherein the cylinder is a rotary cylinder endowing the piston with twisting motions.

6. The lift type pore-controllable fiber filter as set forth inclaim 1, wherein the piston includes a length adjusting means above the filter tank.

7. The lift type pore-controllable fiber filter as set forth inclaim 6, wherein the length adjusting means divides the piston into two rods in series, forms threads having different directions on respective ends of the two rods, connects a nut with the ends of the two rods, and adjusts a length of the piston by rotating the nut.

8. The lift type pore-controllable fiber filter as set forth inclaim 6, wherein the length adjusting means forms threads at one or both ends of the supports to adjust a height of the supports.

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